Prized book of Bexar court proceedings has been refurbished.

Minute Book B (left in left photo) is a highly prized Bexar County document detailing court proceedings from 1840 to 1852. Once without its binding and held together by duct tape, it has been refurbished and is being displayed in Austin.

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Delicate care is required for the handwritten court records from Bexar County's earliest days of Texas independence.

Now county and state officials are pushing for preservation of these documents — some nearly 175 years old — in a statewide effort bolstered by a $15 fee on lawsuit filings.

Records reaching back to 1837 and dealing with Sam Houston, the Alamo defenders, early settlers, immigrants and outlaws are housed in county courthouses across Texas, but deterioration threatens many of them. Ink and paper are sometimes poor quality, and rot, fires, floods and insects have taken a toll.

“Some of these (county) facilities are excellent; some of these records are preserved, or are in the process of being preserved,” said a recent report from the Texas Court Records Preservation Task Force.

“But many of the oldest records, especially those that date back to the Republic of Texas, early statehood or the Civil War, are at risk of being lost forever, unless measures are soon taken to help district and county clerks protect them,” the report said.

One of the most prized local documents, a now-refurbished book of court proceedings from 1840 to 1852 known as Minute Book B, is being displayed in Austin as one of the state's 20 most-endangered court records. Before restoration, the tattered document had lost its binding and was held together by duct tape.

“Preserving our priceless historic court documents, these windows into our past, takes an extra effort,” said District Clerk Donna Kay McKinney, a task force member who safeguards documents from after the fall of the Alamo to the present. Earlier records known as the Bexar Archives, dating to Spanish and Mexican rule, are retained by the county clerk, although many have been housed at the University of Texas since 1899.

Documents today are copied and stored in digital form, and most are kept in a 72,000-square-foot, climate-controlled warehouse near downtown, protected from decay and insect damage. The effort is helped by a 2-year-old fee that applies to about 40,000 lawsuit filings a year in Bexar County.

McKinney, who took office in January, said her first major project will be to restore and preserve about 70 lawsuits filed during the republic era and about 50 of the county's oldest index and minute books, covering 1837 to 1900.

“It's our heritage, it's what makes San Antonio, San Antonio,” she said.

“These records contain names that many of you may recognize, such as Juan Seguin,” she said in a task force presentation to the Texas Supreme Court. They also chronicle the tumultuous events of 1842, when the local district judge and county clerk were among 62 people taken prisoner by troops loyal to Santa Anna. They would be held in Mexico for two years.

Other counties are taking advantage of the preservation funds, and many have provided examples of their most cherished records for display at the State Bar of Texas in Austin.